


These Are For You

by Alyeen1



Series: Moments That Matter [1]
Category: Chernobyl (TV 2019)
Genre: (mostly), Ficlet, Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Receiving Gifts, unbeated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26601208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alyeen1/pseuds/Alyeen1
Summary: Valery brought a gift for Boris. Of course it's not justanygift.
Relationships: Valery Legasov/Boris Shcherbina
Series: Moments That Matter [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088369
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	These Are For You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [L1ttleSilkworm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/L1ttleSilkworm/gifts).



> Developed from an inspiring [conversation](https://litttlesilkworm.tumblr.com/post/628376308538359808/somehow-i-never-realized-that-there-is-a-picture) with Littlesilkworm :-)

Valery rushes into their flat, almost running Boris over who is just on his way to the kitchen.

"Valery," Boris says half-amused as he grabs his lover's arm to steady them both. "Will you ever not try to make me lose my balance?"

Valery mumbles "ridiculous threshold" as he closes the door with his elbow and tries to slip out of his shoes and his jacket at the same time while putting down his briefcase.

As expected things get strewn all over the floor, but Valery is excused, because his right hand is occupied, carrying a large bouquet of flowers.

For a split-second Boris worries if he's forgotten an anniversary or birthday, but disregards the thought. No, he's aware of them.

"Who gave you those?" he enquires, keeping his tone perfectly neutral. Jealousy seems to come automatically with his personality but he tries his best not to listen to it. He despises how it screams 'mistrust'. Nothing could be further from the truth. He trusts, he believes the man in front of him, has since the moment he said "graphite on the roof".

He watches as Valery tries to put some order to the chaos, hanging up his jacket, putting his shoes on the rack, all while holding onto the flowers. Boris can't help it, he's starting to smile. He always does when he sees Valery for the first time after they've been apart for the day or longer. And it's always accompanied with the same feeling of love washing over him, settling around his heart like a blanket.

Valery finally looks at him, really looks at him for the first time since he entered the flat, answering Boris' smile with his own. That simple, honest smile, that makes his old heart beat a bit faster, that says 'I'm happy to see you, I'm glad you are here.' Boris will never tire of it.

Valery holds the bouquet out to Boris, almost pressing it into his arms. "Oh no, no one gave them to me, I got them for you."

Boris raises an eyebrow as he takes the bouquet. Valery isn't much into giving gifts at any time, and while Boris knows the general meaning of gifting someone flowers he has to admit he isn't quite the "flower-person" to begin with. 

He certainly can't name a favorite one of the few kinds he knows at all. Ask him about concrete and he will chew you an ear off but when it comes to flora and fauna he's glad that he can discern a deer from an elk. So, Boris' first thought is _odd choice_.

Still. Valery has gifted him something, has gone to a store to select flowers particularly for Boris. The purchase wasn't about "have to" or "need to", no, he purely did it because he _wanted to_ and that brings another smile to Boris' face.

He unwraps the package, staring at the lovely, uh, ... roses? He turns them once around in his hands. Even in the dim room of the hallway the blossoms shine, a variety of dark red and orange. They look fresh and they don't smell too overpowering. They'll brighten their kitchen table beautifully. "Thank you," he says softly and leans forward to give Valery a kiss on the cheek.

But Valery dodges his attempt, rolls his eyes, and turns around to head for the kitchen. Boris stares dumbfoundedly at the man's backside for a second before following him. He is clearly missing something here.

Valery opens a kitchen cupboard presumably in search of a vase. "The Kremlin. Our first meeting. You remember?"

"Of course," Boris barks. How ridiculous of Valery to assume that there might be a second of the meeting, after Valery joined them, that isn't ingrained in his mind.

He remembers as Valery entered, looking lost in his too-big suit in the big room, surrounded by all these big, and apparently, very stupid men.

"The flowers...," Valery nudges on.

Boris knits his eyebrows together. He can't remember any flowers on the table. He darkly remembers his report, his useless report, laying in front of everyone and he clearly remembers Valery banging his hands on the table, a noise like a gunshot. Now Boris knows how wrong he's been back then. Valery wasn't the one who was lost.

Still, he can't recall any flowers vibrating the moment Valery slammed his hands down. "I might have been slightly distracted by the horrible scenario in front of us."

"You didn't think there was a catastrophe. Everything was," and Valery actually does the finger quotes as he lets water from the tap fill up the vase, "stable."

Boris grunts. Why is Valery always right. "Your point?"

Valery hands the vase over to Boris, so he can put the flowers in. "Admittedly, they were a bit hidden from our view, on the little table under Marx' picture."

Boris tilts his head. Yes, the portrait of Marx he recalls, of course. But flowers... he's racking his brain but he can't even see a table beneath it. 

"I spotted them when it was only the two of us left in the room."

The only thing Boris remembers from that moment is how annoyed he was, that he was going to be stuck with this smart-ass for God-knows-how-long, who has already embarrassed him in front of Gorbachev and he knew he'd continue to do so. It was made a bit more bearable by the prospect that he got to look at the weirdly handsome man some more. Boris felt already a bit confused back then and it had nothing to do with black rocks.

And now there isn't a day he wants to spend apart from Valery. Weird, how things change.

Boris puts the flowers in the vase onto the middle of the kitchen table. He knows Valery is going somewhere with all this, he just has to wait him out. 

"You were like the roses in that moment." Valery outstretches his hand to touch the leaves of the rose closest to him. The corner of his mouth turns slightly upwards into a small grin. "And many moments after that." He let's a finger travel down the stem, stopping in front of the first spike. "Beautiful but thorny."

Boris looks from the roses to Valery and back. "Uh, thank you?" he repeats. He crosses his arms. He wants to be offended about being defined as 'thorny' but then, again, Valery isn't wrong. Calling his behavior during their first day that way is probably the nicest description one could think of, but he still doesn't see how that translates into a gift. If anything it's a reason to throw the roses out of the next window. Boris shakes his head, what is it with him and the urge to throw things or people out from high altitude.

Valery let's go of the plant, and places a hand on Boris' arm. "And you never lost that. Not towards the Kremlin, not towards the KGB, and not towards me." Valery's voice becomes softer as he continues. "You were feisty enough to kiss me that one night, you were stubborn enough to stick by my side no matter the consequences for you, and you took on the whole government to bring us back together." 

Now it's Valery who leans forward and kisses Boris, a gentle kiss on the lips. Boris feels a bit thrown. He should have expected that Valery took 'thoughtful gift' all the way back to the day when they met. That he found a deeper meaning in something Boris didn't even see, and connected it to the whole journey of their relationship.

"I love you, you know that?" Boris unfolds his arm, lays his hands on Valery's hips to draw the man to himself, so they are pressed together. He will always like how soft Valery is, even through the layer of clothes he can dig his fingers into the man's flesh. He can also clearly feel Valery's half-hard dick pressing against his thigh. That he didn't expect either. He raises an eyebrow questioningly.

Valery looks at him, his eyes sparkling. "You really don't know anything about flowers, do you?"

Boris shrugs his shoulders. There's no point in pretending. "I know at which times to water your plants when you are away." _What more do you want from me?_

Valery chuckles, "see, thorny," and grabs Boris' hand, leading them away from the kitchen. 

"Apparently red roses represent a strong, passionate feeling for your partner." Valery explains, pushing the door to their bedroom open. "And I'm going to show you now _how_ passionate mine are."

\-------


End file.
